Encountering the Transfigured Christ in Glory and Suffering

A few months ago, I was in Sri Lanka. While we were there, we visited an Anglican boy’s school and were invited to join the assembly in their chapel. Behind the altar was a large mural painting of the Transfiguration. The youthful Jesus stood on a mountain surrounded by translucent cloud and was accompanied by Moses and Elijah, along with Peter, James, and John. We were told that Jesus’s disciples were portrayed as three well-known boys from the school. There was something meaningful about that image that I had not considered before; while Peter, James, and John experienced the glorious Transfiguration, in some sense all believers are invited into this experience as well.

Jesus Invites Us to Encounter His Glory

Following Peter's confession of Jesus as the Messiah and Jesus’s prediction of his death, Luke 9 recounts the Transfiguration. He took Peter, James, and John with him up a mountain to pray. In biblical times, mountains were associated with places of divine revelation where one met with God, as we see in Exodus when Moses went up the mountain to meet with God (Exodus 19). Whenever Moses went up Mount Sinai, he often took Joshua with him, but only halfway up the mountain, and then he would have to wait for Moses’s return. Likewise, he took his brother Aaron, and his friends Nadab, Abihu, and the 70 elders of Israel with him, but they too only went halfway up the mountain while Moses continued his journey of ascent.

Jesus is different, he selects his closest disciples Peter, James, and John, and together all four of them ascend the mountain to pray. And while they were praying, they saw who Jesus truly is, his entire countenance changed, and his clothing became woven with light. The Transfiguration likely occurred in the night, so one could imagine Jesus appearing like lightning.

You know something has changed when Jesus calls his friends to join him up the mountain to pray and to experience him in all his glory. Similarly, he invites you and I to experience him. And so, here we see the inbreaking of the new covenant and the kingdom of God, where now all of us are invited into God’s presence.

Jesus Invites us to Encounter His Suffering

Two of the greatest Old Testament prophets, Moses and Elijah appear on either side of Jesus (Luke 9:30). It’s significant, because both of them had powerful mountaintop experiences with God, Moses on Mount Sinai when God gave him the Ten Commandments, and Elijah on Mount Carmel when he challenged the 450 prophets of Baal in a contest to see which of the gods were true, Baal or the God of the Hebrews, Yahweh (1 Kings 18). After that Elijah fled to Mount Horeb which is a part of Mount Sinai and there he encountered God in a gentle whisper (1 Kings 19). While Jesus is standing there in transfigured glory, Moses and Elijah talk with him about a very different kind of glory, about his approaching suffering that will in turn bring about the fulfillment of all the prophetic utterances of the Scriptures in Jerusalem (Luke 9:31). That is not to say that suffering in and of itself is glorious, it isn’t, but it may lead towards a certain kind of glory.

Not long after the Transfiguration, Jesus called Peter, James, John, and the other disciples to encounter him in his suffering when they joined him to prayer on a different mountain, in the Garden of Gethsemane on the Mount of Olives. Jesus’s glory in the Transfiguration does not contradict his suffering in Jerusalem, to the contrary, his suffering is the means by which he will ultimately be glorified in his death and resurrection as Jesus invited his disciples to experience his brilliant glory and his glory through suffering.

Likewise, the Apostle Paul makes it clear that we are invited to share in the same suffering and glory when he wrote, “Now if we are children, then we are heirs—heirs of God and co-heirs with Christ, if indeed we share in his sufferings in order that we may also share in his glory” (Romans 8:17). And Peter who was present at both the Transfiguration and in the Garden of Gethsemane witnessed Jesus’s suffering also said, “But rejoice inasmuch as you participate in the sufferings of Christ, so that you may be overjoyed when his glory is revealed” (1 Peter 4:13).

This pattern of glory through suffering is not just a spiritual truth for the apostles or for Christ himself—it plays out even in the stories of people in our own time. While quite different, here’s a secular example; Nelson Mandela who spent 27 years in prison, endured suffering, isolation, and hardship for his commitment to justice, equality, and the end of apartheid. But through his suffering, he eventually emerged as a global figure of reconciliation, peace, and forgiveness, and became the first Black president of South Africa. There are a variety of examples that one might consider.

Overcoming Our Spiritual Drowsiness

But of course, embracing this invitation to share in suffering and glory is not easy. Even Peter, James, and John—who witnessed the glory of Jesus firsthand—struggled to stay awake during the Transfiguration, as we read in Luke 9:32. The truth is, our humanity is weak, and we are spiritually dull, so experiencing God in this way can be overwhelming.

Jesus’s disciples fell asleep during the Transfiguration on the mountain when they experienced his glory, but they also fell asleep in the Garden of Gethsemane on the Mount of Olives, when they were meant to be watching and praying for Jesus, awaiting his arrest. When Jesus “rose from prayer and went back to the disciples, he found them asleep, exhausted from sorrow. ‘Why are you sleeping?’ he asked them. ‘Get up and pray so that you will not fall into temptation’” (Luke 22:45–46). Whether we are experiencing the brilliance of God’s glory or we are experiencing him in the darkness of suffering, our weak human nature fails to be fully present in the mystery of God and appreciate his divine glory or the weightiness of his suffering. God challenges us to stay spiritually awake to what he is doing and to be ready, watchful, and alert (Isaiah 62:6), whether God is manifesting his glory or inviting us into suffering. If we wish to experience God, we need his grace to “stay awake.”

So, Peter wakes up, probably confused and disorientated, and sees Moses and Elijah leaving, and quickly suggests that he build three tents, one for Jesus, one for Moses, and another for Elijah. Peter wanted to have all three of them, but as great as Moses and Elijah were, Jesus is not equal to them, he far exceeds them, he is the last true prophet, he is the true Israel, he is the Messiah, he is God’s own son. God makes Jesus’s identity very clear; he is first and foremost God’s only begotten Son. Yet, there will be no tents, because Jesus is the fulfillment of the Law, and the prophets, both Moses and Elijah point to him (Matthew 5:17–20; Luke 24:44).

Listen to the Son

In Deuteronomy 18:15, Moses looks beyond himself and promises that one day, “God will raise up for you a prophet like me from among you, from your fellow Israelites. You must listen to him.” The focus would shift from Moses to this greater prophet, Jesus Christ. Just as there was a cloud of God’s presence on Mount Sinai when Moses ascended the mountain to meet with God (Exodus 19:16–20), here too during the Transfiguration a cloud appears, and God confirms Moses’s prophecy and calls out from the cloud, saying, “This is my Son, whom I have chosen; listen to him” (Luke 9:34). And before they know it, Moses and Elijah disappear leaving Jesus alone with Peter, James, and John, because even they know the focus is to be on Christ Jesus alone (Luke 9:36). How seriously do you take that instruction that is addressed to you and I as much as it was addressed to the disciples, “Listen to Jesus, he is my Son”?

Contemplate the Lord’s Glory and Be Transformed

Like Peter, James, and John, Jesus invites each of us to follow him up the mountain that we may meet with God and encounter his glory. In the Old Testament Moses also climbed up a mountain to meet with God, but when he came down the Israelites were afraid to come near him for his face was radiant (Exodus 34:29–35). The Apostle Paul explains that Moses put a veil on his face because he wished to prevent the Israelites from seeing that his radiance was fading until he met again with God, after which he would veil his face again. But for those who continue to live in the Old Covenant, their hearts continue to be dull, and the veil remains, so to speak. But for those who are in Christ Jesus, this veil has been removed, because as Paul says, “And we all, who with unveiled faces contemplate the Lord’s glory, are being transformed into his image with ever-increasing glory, which comes from the Lord, who is the Spirit” (2 Corinthians 3:18b).

 

Concluding Thoughts

The whole point of that painting I mentioned earlier with Peter, James, and John having the faces of school boys, is a reminder to all the boys that all believers, including you and I, are invited up the mountain to be with Jesus, that he may reveal his glory to us so that through the ministry of the Spirit, Jesus may begin to transform our lives into the image of God. This is not an instantaneous change, rather it’s a journey of faith, one that grows and evolves as we encounter God in different ways.

Will you commit to being intentional about making Jesus Christ central to your faith, by listening and obeying him, as God the Father has commanded us to do? Are you willing to allow the Spirit to transform your life through deep prayer, reflection, and Bible meditation in a way that leads to divine communion and encounter with Christ? The more we encounter the beauty of Christ in glory and suffering, the more we will reflect his radiant splendor and become a beacon of hope to the world.